In 1989 my wife and I spent some time in this walled and fortified city of 800,000 from which treasure-laden galleons long set sail for Spain. Besides historical interest, we found laid-back residents who called themselves "the happy people" and who often asked to practise their English on us. Most importantly, we moved about freely all over the city day and night with narry a fear for our safety.

Cartagena has had a turbulent history, going as far back as its founding in 1533 by Herredia, a conquistador searching for the mythical "El Dorado". Its location on a huge bay made it a natural seaport from which to ship gold, emeralds and other plunder to Spain. It became a favorite target of pirates and Sir Francis Drake, who almost demolished the city in 1586. Tired of countless attacks, the Spanish undertook to build a massive wall some 6.5 miles (11 km) long, forty feet (12m) high, and fifty feet (16m) thick all around the city. They added a huge chain across the harbour mouth and a series of impregnable forts, the largest of which is the enormous San Felipe de Barajas. Eighteen years in the building, it was completed in 1657, and is Latin America's largest. The forts and massive walls still stand.

The expense was justified militarily in 1741, when Admiral Vernon, leading an enormous English fleet and 14,000 troops, failed to capture the city after a six-month siege. The hero of that conflict was Don Blas de Lezo, a one-armed one-legged soldier who held them off with only a few hundred men, and to whom a statue was erected near the fort's entrance. That earned Cartagena the title "The Heroic City". Nothing could ever justify the human cost of building the defences, though: the African slaves who built them were simply worked to death, then dumped unceremoniously into the harbour. A guide told us that an estimated 40,000 died that way. A few managed to escape, and their descendants may still be seen selling fruit on the beaches.

Thanks to Simon Bolivar Colombia became independent in 1819, and Cartagena became a fairly busy port, the centre of the Colombian emerald and coffee trade. Wealthier citizens began to build a "new city" of residences outside the walls, but not much else happened until the advent of modern tourism. Then Bocagrande, a hook-shaped spit outside the "old city" began to fill with fine hotels and restaurants, and word about the historical attractions, fine beach and excellent climate spread to North America and beyond. By the mid-1980s it was a popular and prosperous destination for cruise ships, northern "snowbirds", Europeans, and well-to-do Latin Americans. Then a disastrous meltdown brought an end to tourism in the late 1990s,. because of the drug trade hundreds of miles inland and the fear which it engendered among those who might otherwise have become visitors.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Bocagrande, and not just because of the world's finest coffee! We delighted in fresh seafood daily, toured the harbour at night in a sailing ship, explored the old city on foot and by caleche, took a free course on how to recognize genuine emeralds, and bought some at excellent prices from Greenfire, a reputable dealer. For more detailed information about these magnificent green gems, go to www.destinationcartagena.com/buy_emeralds.html .

Although the fairly compact "old city" is both a visible chronicle of history and a masterpiece of Spanish colonial and ecclesiastical architecture, this first article and photos will concentrate on a general orientation and the larger "new city" outside. A later one will describe the historic treasures that lie within those venerable walls.